Return of the Ninja Master
by Onboro Sensei
Summary: Novelization of Sega's Shinobi 3, first three levels. Violence and Ninja techniques abound in my first story at theis site. R&R, if you'd be so kind


Shinobi- Return of the Ninja Master  
A video game novel  
By Thomas Medrano  
  
Chapter one – Storm Winds  
In a time much like our own, in a place synonymous our world, in a forest  
in the wilds of Japan stood a Ninja. A true-to-honor, born-in-darkness  
Shadow Dancer of the clan Oboro. This ninja, or Shinobi as the Japanese  
say, was a refuted and feared singularity named Jo-Musashi. He had mastered  
the arts of the Ninja very long ago and now spent his life traveling the  
world, learning more than what met one's eye at first glance and battling  
true evil where it hindered such progress.  
It wasn't until he met the Neo Zeed that he decided his quest was to assist  
others with their hindrances. Before he had become thusly independent of  
all others in this world, he was still under apprenticeship of the old  
Oboro Master. One day long before this one, Musashi had met with the Neo  
Zeed epicentric for the first time and bested their master. Little did  
Musashi know (for so relieved was he that the battle had been victorious)  
that overlooked went many of the standard Shinobi look-outs that mission,  
and when he returned to his dojo, he found his master dying with a kunai in  
his chest. His last words to Musashi were "..Zeed.". Now, with uncommon  
vengance in his heart, he no longer sought to destroy Neo-Zeed from the  
inside out...but simply everything that had to do with it.  
  
He crouched low over the ridge where he saw the Neo-Zeed meeting taking  
place. Ninja though he was, the Zeed were never to be taken lightly. He had  
already contemplated killing a guard and replacing him in the lines, for  
his hearing was not what it once had been. He had strained them to hear  
every breath of the wind in every direction, every step taken on any floor  
his enemies paced that even in his stout age of 27, his hearing was  
beginning to distort at times. He knew it for a fact and was furious with  
himself for letting things get out of control that badly. Many things he  
had not counted on happened after the Zeed hit the world. He had taken up  
more dangerous Arts, four of which he had become luckily adept with: Art of  
Izakafuchi, Art of Fushin, Art of Shen-fire and Art of Maijin, which caused  
his body to erupt violently like an explosive and form back together, with  
enough luck and spirit, to live again. Izakafuchi caused lightning to  
encase and protect him, but it demanded much of his concentration so as to  
not destroy himself. Fushin caused his mind and senses to be separated into  
into four distinct bodies, a technique perfected by an older Ninja, Ryu  
Hayabusa, a revered Ninja of another time and story. Of course, while this  
had advantages of raised awareness and movement, the art could drive a  
person insane if they did not know mental discipline of a simple, yet  
complex kind. Shen-fire, which he invented himself and perfected only two  
years ago, caused dragons of pure flame to erupt in a wide, rotating radius  
all around him. Again, like Izakafuchi, a formidable defense, this one with  
the added advantage of temporary sentience which caused the dragons to  
destroy others in a semi-aware state of attack, yet still presenting bodily  
danger to the weaver of the arts. Truly, Ninjutsu was an art only worth  
undertaking if you are truly willing to give one's life to a cause. Musashi  
suddenly came out of his reverie, altogether surprised that he allowed  
himself to distract himself with memories of the past. He slowly moved  
forward on his knees, keeping two fingers on his ever-present kunai  
throwing knives and listening with care to the ensuing announcements before  
him.  
"If this world is to become one, we must first unify after the maelstrom  
of war has past!"  
A cheer from the men went up to the night sky as the fire leapt again, both  
under it's own accord and a slight provocation from the speaker's mental  
magic. Kyufo-yoh enjoyed inspiring his men to their personal best...and  
women too. There were some in the battalion this time, and unbeknownst to  
the others, more skilled than most of the men. Only his Samurai lieutenants  
matched them, and even then, only one of them.  
"Our mission in this life is simple!" he thundered on, "We are to be the  
winds before the hurricane, the calm before the nightmare, only our assault  
shall be anything but calm!"  
This warranted a surprising number of tough laughs from them. He never  
really considered himself gifted at humor, but Kyufo-yoh never turned down  
praise when it was offered.  
"Even if some of you die in this world-wide disruption, let the world over  
know of it and make the end worthy of our mighty cause. LET THE ZEED WINDS  
FALL AND SHAKE THE EARTH!!!"  
The trees and ground rattled under the deafening battle-cries of a hundred  
skilled murderers, eager for the taste of blood steeped in a thousand  
peoples. While desensitized to murder, every man and woman in this  
gathering were candid when it came to their work, and Kyufo-yoh knew this  
well enough to send them off without specific orders. He made the gesture  
of the Neo Zeed, a spreading of the fingers at either side, then raising  
both hands in fists to his chest and snapping both horizontally to the  
sides, like a crucifixion. There was a mass mimic of this movement, then in  
almost an instant with nary a disturbance, they were all gone. Kyufo-yoh  
turned into the forest behind him and took step to the cave beyond his  
sight, where he was going to wait for the one only he knew had come, his  
sole guest to the proceedings. A figure waited outside the maw of the  
subterranean entrance, exaggerated beyond reason by some strange magic.  
"I assume you understand what the Zeed are asking of you and your men,  
Kyufo-san." It said, addressing him with either courtesy or mockery.  
"Anything to change the world back, sir."  
Musashi waited for the clearing to live up to itself, then emerged slowly  
from his hiding place. He had followed the paths of those present closely  
and found many of them were still nearby, as if on guard. He gripped two of  
his kunai and slowly made his forward, going after Kyufo-yoh.  
The attack came so quick, any lesser man would have fallen beneath it  
before he knew it was upon him.  
A pair of gleaming orange shuriken, characteristic to the Zeed, came  
hurtling out of the trees. Musashi jumped back, instinctively follwing  
their senses-slowed paths with his eyes and hand, then let fly his two  
knives. In less than a moment, two of the Zeed already fell dead from the  
trees, the round grip-ring of the kunai just visible from where they had  
buried themselves in their hearts. So it continued in this manner, for lost  
was the subtlety of his old ways. He ran with a devil's speed through the  
forest, not pausing for a second, marking any movement he deemed unnatural  
with his killing blades. He also remembered at this point he had brought  
his Ninja-to with him, the short sword he had received from his master when  
he was still young. When a knife missed it's mark and opposition jumped out  
to meet him, in a flash of steel it was split asunder and cast aside as  
quickly as it had appeared. Most Ninja never used swords in this melee  
fashion, but this situation called for no stealth at all. Then, as he was  
nearing the cave, a monk wearing a basket-weave hat appeared and slowly  
approached him, holding what appeared to be a flute. Musashi skidded to a  
stop, scrutinizing this newcomer closely.  
"What are you doing out here?" he asked, not prepared to believe any of  
what he was told.  
"Oh..! Is someone there? Who is it?" the monk stopped in mid-stride and  
looked around him for Musashi. Apparently, he was blind.  
"Are you able to see?"  
"No... I am a monk of the Getufu order, we live in a monastery beyond the  
cave entry. A merciless band of marauders came only yesterday and laid  
waste to our beautiful outpost." His voice broke slightly here, and Musashi  
was surprised to see a man of his mind behaving so, "I'm afraid I only  
survived because they felt amused enough to only take my eyes."  
Although his hat covered his head entirely, his words and movement spoke  
his handicap quite fluently, unfortunately. Musashi could tell this, and he  
felt his newly-awoken heart throb painfully for a moment. He could hardly  
believe himself helping another like this.  
"It was the Neo Zeed.. the path to the city is just up the road here, you  
should go there and find someone to help you," Musashi said, "I would  
assist you, but there are matters to attend to here."  
The monk nodded.  
"You are most honorable, sir... I thank you."  
He continued on his way, moving past Jo clumsily. He could hear the man's  
head shifting around inside the hat, looking for something he'd never see.  
The Ninja followed him with his eyes and more for only a moment, then  
continued to the cave, an odd feeling of contentment and fulfillment  
filling him for a moment, warming his stone heart.  
Then, his ears detected a shift in the monk's pace.  
A familiar shift.  
Immediately, Musashi snapped off three kunai at once to his rear and shot  
to the side as he did so. He stopped on his hand and spun around to meet  
his attacker. The monk lay in the grass before him, his hat knocked off and  
the trio of punishing metal protruding from his face, two in his eyes  
(which had clearly been there) and one from the tip of his flute, which had  
been brought to the lips in a clearly non-musical fashion.  
A solitary dart stuck quivering in the tree which Jo-Musashi had been  
facing only a second before.  
He felt his eyes narrow angrily, the darkness in his heart returning, the  
old feelings of distrust arising with stricken memory like a half-eaten  
skeleton still clinging to life in it's decay. Musashi took one last look  
at the monk and then shot off down the cave entrance.  
There were no other Ninja inside, in their stead was a warrior in  
red samurai armor, holding his sword above him in a concentrated position.  
Musashi approached slowly and drew another knife. Then, quite quicker than  
Jo had expected, the samurai brought his sword crashing into the ground and  
a wave of force shot at Musashi with burning speed. It met his body with a  
surge of power and threw him against the rock wall of the cave, sending a  
resounding crash though the halls of stone. Musashi gritted his teeth  
against the ravaging pains that shot through his worn body and slowly got  
to his feet. He heard a voice come out at him.  
"You didn't see that one coming, eh Ninja?"  
The samurai's laugh broke through his anger-racked apathy and at once, the  
Shinobi grip't his sword handle and nearly disappeared in his speed. One  
moment, the laugh had been long and loud. Now, Musashi stood behind the  
man, holding his Ninja-to against the back of his arm in the after-position  
of a head-level slash. The kabuto helmet, owner and all, clattered to the  
ground and the headless body followed. He put the sword back into it's  
sheath only for a moment, then immediately brought it out again and held  
the flat of it before him, crossing his chest. Another wave of force rammed  
into the sword, causing the Ninja to skid back, but receive none of the  
intended damage. He saw across the way, blocking what appeared to be an  
earthen doorway, was another Samurai, this one garbed in a much more  
extensive suit of gold and blue.  
"Who are you?" he called to Jo, bringing one of his two swords out to bear  
on him.  
The Ninja only remained silent, such was the tradition to always be  
honored. He felt the other fighter regarding him.  
"... Shadow Dancer..." the samurai whispered. It seemed the Neo Zeed were  
not taking any chances in unknown aggressors this time. The warrior brought  
his sword crashing down again, and a bigger shockwave shot out at Jo. He  
anticipated luckily this time, and leapt into the air, plunging a knife  
into the ceiling and hanging by it. His other finger had already rung  
another one and now sent it flying at his foe. This one was not to be  
easily bested however, as the samurai saw this and brought his sword up to  
block this blow easily. Musashi was irritated with his fortune now, and  
fell off the ceiling into a flip, bringing a signature of his, "Punishing  
Steel Rain Technique", to fall at the enemy. Using faster than eye speed,  
he hurled ten kunai at him in a wide radius. Encompassing as this attack  
was, it was still fended off by this strangely adept fighter. Jo landed on  
his feet, then waited for his opponent to make the next move, as he was  
getting awkwardly flummoxed and unable to be his usual accuate self. As the  
samurai prepared to hurl another attack, Musashi saw an opening and went  
for it. With his sword raised on high, the armor parted slightly near his  
underarm and within a blink of it's arrival, the Shinobi had stuck a dagger  
neatly into it, wedging it just so the armor caught and stayed open. The  
warrior let out a cry of surprise, then there was nothing as the Shinobi  
leapt back and threw his sword, which spun in it's wide radius and stuck  
hard and fast into the his side. The samurai made a gasping sound, clutched  
the weapon sticking out of him and fell to his knees. He didn't hear the  
Ninja approach, but he did vaguely feel his sword being tugged from his  
hands and another hand pushing his head downwards. Following that was a  
whoosh of a sword being swung, a sharp pain on his neck and the singing of  
the blade.  
Then he felt nothing.  
O-suwa watched the Shinobi from a distance, watching him fall in and out of  
shadow and suddenly reappear behind a guard, send an almighty slash of  
blood skyward. His brow furrowed in confusion and anger... how could he be  
getting through them? His two upper arms grasped their swords, readying for  
the oncoming assault when it reached him. He heard Kyufo-yoh approach him  
from behind.  
"It seems you've put too much faith in your men's ability once again.." O-  
suwa snapped at him, watching Musashi cross a gorge on a rope suspended  
from the walls. Why were Yoh's men giving the enemy such obvious paths to  
follow?  
"My men only do as they are told, sir..." replied Kyufo-yoh with a strange  
bite to his voice.  
"You'd best go warn the men at the men at the base to prepare for him. You  
shall assume my rank if I am to fall in battle to this scum.."  
"If, sir?". This was followed by the pattering silence that usually  
heralded Kyufo-yoh's swift exit or return. It suddenly hit O-suwa.  
"You set me up!" O-suwa roared at the darkness, shaking the rocks in the  
ceiling.  
"Anything to change the world back, sir..." came his distant reply from  
the shadows.  
"Damn you!"  
He swung his swords over him, then turned to meet the Ninja that had just  
reached him. He used his lower pair of arms to aim a deadly spear at him.  
"You know where the Zeed are operating." It said.  
"Bah! I would just as soon die than help a dirty Ninja like you!"  
"Suit yourself.."  
  
"Sir, has the plan gone well?"  
Kyufo-yoh exited the cave to the cheers of his men, whom he had trusted to  
his plan. He had been waiting for a chance like this since the beginning.  
"Yes. I am certain the Shadow Dancer will destroy the general and his  
troops. Once this happens, we can enter the heart of the Neo Zeed and  
unseat the old leader, allowing for a period of rule as I see fit!"  
The Ninja nodded, and then climbed into their traveling kites, which they  
were to use to approach HQ safely. As they mounted the apparatus, A distant  
boom roar of pain met their ears, followed almost immediately by the  
clattering of hooves.  
"What? He shouldn't have killed him that quickly!" Yoh spoke, waving for  
the others to rise up and take the wind away from the cave. Just as they  
had approached safe altitude, a brown horse bearing forth the accursed  
Shinobi shot out of the cave and across the land that lay between it and  
the hidden base near the lake. Other Ninja began raining shuriken towards  
him, but nothing was getting close enough.  
"Go down and engage him close range!" the new general ordered, "Some of  
you go ahead of him and place spike fences in the path!"  
The other Ninja leapt down and followed the orders. Kyufo watched from his  
distant kite as his troops ran to meet the Ninja, and were again and again  
struck down by the blows of the warrior and his steed.  
"Damnit...why must it always come down to me?"  
He flew his kite high over the clearing and leapt down, flying forth with  
all speed of irritation and shot past him in an attempt to throw his  
concentration.  
"You're going to die!"  
He came from behind the horse and aimed a straight kick at the animals  
head. Musashi pulled it's neck back and the killing blow nicked it's nose  
barely. It whinnied and clomped swiftly after the assailant. Kyufo-yoh  
turned into a giant skid, carving a huge slash of dirt in the ground. Like  
two great battering rams, the man and the animal tore past eachother, one  
headbutting the other, while four knives stuck into the side of the horse.  
Kyufo went past his fallen kites and gathered some spears. Musashi caught  
the noise coming behind him, as Kyufo leapt into the air and rained five  
heavy spears at him and into the path. Only the combined quick reflexes of  
horse and man thwarted the ensured crash that would've followed. A voice  
rang out like a falcon cry.  
"You've lost..."  
Kyufo-yoh looked 'round just in time to see the Shinobi falling straight at  
him before he was vaulting off the ground and back onto his horse. Yoh felt  
the numerous kunai that had ripped into his body in the half of an blink.  
He fell into the grass and melted slowly into darkness.  
  
Chapter two- Body Weapon  
PROGsubroutine:actv.- bootuplog.exe initiate  
SYS.DIAG. running ...done  
Power source- ACTV  
Core computer- ACTV  
Combat systems- ACTV  
Motion systems- ACTV  
DEAD_DOG Spc. System- ACTV  
Systems OK......... code initial prog. Initiate  
INTRUSION DETECTED – PRIORITY ONE code designate- 2455366.obj  
AD/CU codedesignate YAJIMA v.240- BATTLE READY.  
Jo-Musashi crept low in the shadow behind the ammo crate in the hidden  
base. Already he had learned that this situation called for more stealth  
than the others. He had been confronted by an advanced security system at  
the doors, which had killed the horse he appropriated and put a bullet  
through his arm. He had sat in the forest for almost half a day, wedging  
the slug out with his knife and healing. His arm was stiff with pain, but  
he kept quiet. The two guards with whom he'd removed lay in the snow behind  
him, but already more were coming to investigate. He pulled his sword from  
it's muzzle and went through the weaving motions for Fushin technique. He  
set the blade flat against his hand and set it across himself. Then, he  
slowly felt his mind becoming less gathered and concentrated on that  
sensation, until he could feel as though his consciousness was divided into  
different places. He opened his eyes and met the other three pairs of them.  
The process had split his perception into fourths and he took a moment to  
focus on the quadruple vision. Then, one of them focused on an oncoming  
soldier.  
In a flash, one dashed along the wall and flipped into the ceiling rafters,  
while one flung two kunai up into the ceiling, flipped to them and held on  
upside-down. The two remaining approximations remained motionless and the  
guards passed them all by. Using their extended awareness, Jo-Musashi  
crawled and leapt to the innermost areas of the base. It was when he  
approached the doorways to the elevator into the security reactor that a  
sudden, piercing metallic shriek made them stop and clutch at his head like  
it was splitting. He was going mad! All of his four-fold eyes were  
spinning, the entire world was heaving as if on fire and screaming. The  
pain was driving him crazy, he slammed his head against the floor again and  
again, trying to get the shattering sounds out any way he could. Then, it  
was gone... his sight had returned to normal, his forms were gone...and an  
alarm was blaring everywhere.  
Musashi stumbled into the open elevator, trying to clear his head. What was  
that? He had practiced a number of methods to close the mind from psychic  
intrusion, but this was something different...too focused and powerful to  
be any one person. The ringing stopped after a moment, but in the shaft  
where he was, other soldiers were setting up guns to take him out on sight,  
or crawling through the spacer ducts for a shot. He cut down many of them  
as they came, but the shots were becoming too hard to dodge and the armor  
he wore under his clothing would not protect him for long. He took a high  
jump off the elevator and landed on a outhanging wire and he heard many  
guns come to bear on him immediately. Taking almost instant action, he  
brought our his sword once more and held it straight up, summoning with all  
he had to the ground and the particles of air surrounding him. With a roar  
that shattered resolve and courage, five long dragons of crimson flame shot  
from holes formed by his spirit channeling. The men before him fled in  
terror, but the dragons shot out swift as thought and immolated whatever  
they met, and blasted fire at what went unburned. Before anyone had a  
chance to react, the entire area surrounding Musashi was now a melting  
nightmare of molten steel and charred bodies, the crisp scent of cooking  
flesh hanging like a doom spell cloud. Musashi held his weapon on high for  
a moment, then slumped slightly and held his fingers before him in the  
returning position. The blazing dragons slithered back to him and fell back  
into their holes, to who knows where. He then leapt back onto the elevator  
and waited to reach the top. He would have to rest after this... his body  
felt shattered. The door to the security reactor was rigged with explosives  
for some reason, so instead of using knives, he attempted a sort of  
telekinesis he had attempted before. His mind was all in a clutter, but he  
focused hard on what he needed to touch, and the bomb suddenly went off,  
sending the door crashing inwards and revealing his path. As soon as he  
stepped into the room, he felt the searing mental stab as the piercing  
sound from before erupted all around him. His teeth clenched near to  
breaking as he struggled to see where it was coming from. His mentally pre-  
focused mind was still a little fresh from the bomb and so it was this that  
saved him. As he looked up, he noticed a metallic form hovering before him  
from which the sound seemed to be coming from. It appeared to be fazing  
itself in and out of existence to keep from being aimed at, so he took for  
his luck and loosed a kunai as accurate as he could. The noise stopped  
abruptly and his vision cleared instantly. Although it had just moved, he  
could see what it was now: a hovering, spherical machine dotted with  
reception antennae and jagged relays. Sitting in the center of this  
metallic deflagration was a glass case containing a puffy pink human brain.  
The thing faded again and reappeared across the room, moving very  
strangely. It dropped near him again, bringing a small machine gun mounted  
on it's side to aim at his head. Musashi leapt backwards and used his  
Punishing Rain to knock the robot back. A small explosion erupted off it  
and it fazed again. This time when it reappeared, a blue field of  
electricity had formed around it. Musashi saw it's stationary movement and  
hurled another knife at his foe, but the projectile just swerved away from  
the field. The machine shot towards him again and launched green arcs of  
lightning at him. Once it did this however, the power on the shield waned  
slightly. Throwing caution to the wind, Musashi leapt through the lightning  
just a moment before it came down again and shot his knife straight at the  
brain jar. A direct hit! Now the robot was beginning to overheat and turn  
reddish. Suddenly, the room began to swim about like it was swaying and  
Musashi's thoughts became erratic. He tried to move away from the spinning  
walls, but only ran into them. Upon attempting to catch himself, he felt  
his arms go up in front of him. Or did he? Everything seemed what it wasn't  
supposed to be. If that were the case, the machine was leaving him alone  
and not firing it's machinegun at him. Musashi tried to fall away from the  
assault and of course, fell nearly into it. His mind worked this out  
easily, but was having trouble getting it to stick in his head, as every  
realization led to the same question.  
' If it isn't what it is, then it's got it figured out.'  
An instant reversal on this answered the question and not a moment too  
soon. As the bullets from the machine tore the ground around him, he leapt  
backwards into the air and landed on the machine, ignoring the pain from a  
few relays stabbing into his calves. He pulled his sword in one swift  
motion and stabbed deep into the brain. The explosion tossed Musashi off,  
and it fell sputtering and flaming into the ground. Where he landed, Jo  
laid for a long time...he'd really gone all out this time and didn't  
realize that a week had passed before he got up again.  
Now he headed for the research lab.  
The laboratory where the Neo Zeed developed demons and created madness in a  
human generalization of form was not for the faint of heart. They were  
prone to mistakes in this work, and many of tanks that lined either end of  
the long room contained forms of twisted, putrescent bodies that physically  
defined a malaise that only a non-human could appreciate. Musashi ignored  
all this, but swore to destroy the place utterly before he moved on. He  
walked along a long glass tube that contained a strangely swirling viscous  
green fluid. He had learned before, during a brief encounter in America,  
that the brain-transplant technology had been in use since the 70's. The  
battle with the security system had reminded him what twisted greed could  
drive humanity to...what it already was.  
This was why the Neo-Zeed had to be stopped.  
A buzzing sound interrupted his reflection from above. What looked like a  
round brain with wings and insectile legs was dropping towards him, a sharp-  
fanged maw snapping hungrily. He flashed his sword through it and it  
dropped in two pieces, but Musashi dashed ahead after this as dozens of the  
creatures came pouring from the sides, droning like a horde of bees. He  
jumped up and swung into some pipes overhead and the mass of devils shot  
past him. He lay against the grating, not daring to breathe as he listen to  
their buzz fade into the distance. Jo heaved a sigh of relief and got up to  
continue. Something fat and pink smashed into him, his body colliding  
against the metal wall. A very big brain on stubby feet stood before him,  
pulsing sinisterly. Not certain whether to laugh or attack, Musashi opted  
for pushing it away with his foot. Immediately, a huge mouth full of teeth  
snapped close to his feet. He flipped back against the wall and shot off it  
with a snap-jump kick and put his foot straight through the disgusting  
creature. He had little time to inspect it as though, as a glob of green  
liquid was flying through air at him. Jo caught this projectile in mid-air,  
but his kunai melted with a hiss and hit the ground near his feet with a  
noise between splat and clank. A man-shaped creature had formed up out of  
the green tube through a crack and was heaving back and forth, launcing  
droplets of acid at him. Caught in this nightmare of formlessness, the  
undaunted Shinobi felled these opponents as best he could. Green men were  
cut in two and sank drip-like into the tubes again, Brainlings and Flies  
met a fiery end as he hit his knives against the wall as he went and  
sparked flames in the flammable areas. Then, near a large gantry at the  
end, he switched on a disposal unit and started throwing the Brainlings  
still in their jars into the acid bath. While some managed to escape, none  
lived in Musashi's eyesight. Once the acid bath had become clogged with  
glass, he drained it, smashed the glass with his feet and leapt down into  
the waste area where he planned to blow the whole place out from under  
itself.  
This proved to be a frightening oversight.  
The floors over in the sewage dump were likened to flesh itself and it was  
moving to suck him into itself, puckering and squishing with sickening  
noises too gross for me to want to describe. Monstrous beetles the size of  
horses crawled out of the organic ground and gripped for him with massive  
pincers as he drudged through the Hell of mistaken innovations. Suddenly,  
in the distance to his left, a creature bigger than all others arose from  
or of the flesh and began to launch giant rays of laser at him. While it  
was bearing on him for another shot, Musashi ran 'round as close as he dare  
to. As soon as he reached it, his mind began hearing a voice... not his  
own.  
' Kill...kill me!'  
The creature arose again and Musashi barely managed to keep from vomiting.  
It was as if someone had taken a pile of bloody organs and sculpted them  
into what was the general idea of a human bust, with gnarled pock-marked  
hands flailing in huge circles to either side. Again, the voice came out.  
' Do it!'  
' Is this you I am fighting?'Musashi thought.  
' Yes... I can't keep from trying to kill you!'  
It's hand came up and tried to swipe him away.  
' My mind is trapped...i cannot get out! I used to be a human...all I know  
is my name, just...D. Please, I can't take this everlasting tortue called  
existence any longer! Please! KILL ME!!'  
And so Jo-Musashi did.  
A beeping noise awoke the guard. Something was happening in the bio-tech  
center twenty levels down. Typing quickly, he found that the nuclear self-  
destruct failsafe was activated! He rushed from his station and tried to  
find the outlet for the shutdown. In his rush, he tripped and felt his  
ankle snap. A tripwire? Of course not. Now he crawled to the nearby  
deactivation pad. He pulled his key from the chain and prepared to end the  
death he was planned for.  
Someone had stabbed a wicked-looking knife into the panel.  
A final shriek of terror, then oblivion as the land for a half a mile  
'round erupted into a towering pillar of fire shot into the sky.  
Illuminated by this impressive pyre was a solitary figure on a cliffside in  
the distance. He smiled under his mask  
"Rest in peace, my dear D..." 


End file.
